


Trailing the Ghost

by alba17



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Altered Mental States, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:49:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5155934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Has Steve been been on the trail of the Winter Soldier for too long?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trailing the Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> Written for towerparty flash fic challenge for the prompt: _If you pull, then I’ll push too deep and I’ll fall right back to you._

Steve refuses to give up. The Winter Soldier file is thumbed and frayed at the edges now. He’s spent countless hours looking through it, poring over every detail. Months ago, Sam had to go home, but Steve stayed. He owed it to Bucky. 

His life since is pared down to the essentials. He eats only when necessary, sleeps in the rough. The cities and towns blur together, railroad stations and bus terminals in every downtrodden corner of Eastern Europe. He barely speaks to anyone unless they can aid in his quest. Dreams bleed into daylight.

He wakes up abruptly, blinking into the darkness. 

“Steve?”

He bolts upright from the cement floor of the garage he broke into the night before, where he slept using his backpack for a pillow. “Bucky?” 

Bucky’s at the door. And he’s smiling. “Steve, come on, pal, we gotta go.” 

“Bucky!” Steve scrambles up, warmth spreading in his chest. “Wait up.” He rushes to the door and follows Bucky into the night.

He can’t believe it. After all this time, Bucky found _him_. A smile bursts across Steve’s face. He almost trips on the rough ground, he’s so happy. “Come on, slow down,” he says, laughing.

Bucky looks back with a taunting smirk, just like the old days. His hat’s at a jaunty angle and his uniform is smartly pressed, the gold buttons catching what little light there is. He turns around and walks backward, looking at Steve. “Been a long time. Old age slowing you down?”

“Not hardly.” Steve catches up to him and grabs him in a tight hug. “You’re here.” He can’t even think through the wave of giddiness that overcomes him. He pulls back to look at Bucky some more and his heart aches at the sight of him. “Why’re you wearing your old uniform?” 

Bucky’s mouth turns down at the edges. “Thought you liked it. But never mind that. Got some old friends who wanna see you.” Bucky tugs him along by the arm down the main street of the village where Steve had tracked down a former Soviet intelligence officer who supposedly worked on the Winter Soldier program. Everything’s shut for the night except for a bar up ahead, from which light and raucous laughter spill out. Inside, a cheer goes up when Steve and Bucky enter. 

“If it isn’t Captain Rogers!” Dum Dum says as he deals a hand of cards.

“How you been, old bloke?” says Falsworth, a full pint at his elbow.

Gabe adds with a warm smile, “It’s been so long."

“Thought you went down with that plane in the Arctic,” says Morita.

A jitterbug’s on the radio and smoke fills the air. Men in uniform crowd the bar-uniforms that no one’s worn since the forties.

Steve stands stock still. This can’t be real. The Howling Commandos all look exactly the same as the last time he saw them. Their voices are just like they should be, their skin is warm and alive; they seem real. It smells like every tavern and club he’s ever been to, beer-soaked floor and cigarettes. Somebody thrusts a shot glass of whiskey into his hand, someone else thumps him on the back. The spirit of camaraderie almost makes him weep with a sense of loss. 

He examines Bucky. Bucky looks well-rested and his face is unlined, freshly shaved. Steve can even smell the after shave and pomade. It hurts to see him like this. “What’s really going on?” Steve asks.

“What do you mean?” Bucky’s smile falters.

“This isn’t real.” 

“Course it is.” Bucky claps him on the shoulder. Steve can feel the weight of his hand as it squeezes him. Inside, something cracks open. Peggy said none of them could go back. Maybe she was wrong.

Bucky pulls him closer and whispers in his ear. “Let’s you and me go in the back room for a little while. Just for a few minutes, then we’ll come back.”

Steve’s mouth falls open. Panic wells up in him. There’s no mistaking what Bucky means. He swallows and drops his gaze, unable to look Bucky in the eye. He can’t deny he’s thought about it. What Bucky’s offering, he wants in a deep-seated way. Enough to pretend a little longer. He’s been searching so long.

Bucky puts his arm around Steve’s shoulder and leads him away from the others. Steve goes along. The cold metal of Bucky’s fingers seeps through Steve’s jacket. “They’ll never miss us. After all, we’ve been gone for decades,” Bucky says.

Decades. Steve looks back and the others are carrying on just the same, joking and chatting. He hesitates, his head all muddled and confused, time turning on its head. 

Bucky drags him away to a dark room full of cardboard boxes. He muscles Steve against the wall and Steve’s arms automatically come up to embrace him. As soon as he feels Bucky’s mouth on his, hot and burning, he’s lost. Their bodies shove up against each other and Steve’s overwhelmed with yearning and desire. _Bucky._ Steve tangles his hand in Bucky’s long hair - greasy and matted - and Bucky pushes his hips into Steve’s. Bucky twines his leg around Steve’s and he can feel the hard line of Bucky’s erection rubbing against his own. He pants into Bucky’s neck and his cock throbs heavily. Sparks in his head. The metal arm whirs as Bucky caresses his ass.

“Stevie.” Low and whispery in his ear. He hasn’t heard that in a very long time. 

It’s overwhelming, all of it too much, and he’s starting to come, delicious waves gathering in his belly, when something sharp grazes the skin of his neck. Suddenly he’s on the floor, his arms twisted behind him, helpless.

“Rogers.” 

It’s completely dark. He turns his head this way and that but he can’t see anything. Bucky’s gone. A sob fights its way up his throat.

“Captain Rogers.” A click, then his ears are full of the sound of the rushing of his own blood. It’s cold.

“He’s out,” he hears someone say. Not Bucky. He struggles but it’s like he doesn’t have control over his own body. Nothing happens. He’s bound. 

“Proceed as planned,” a different voice says. A hint of an accent. Flat inflection.

He tries to yell but nothing comes out. There’s the snick of a door closing tight, then ice-cold vapor surrounds him and he loses consciousness.

 

******

“Steve….Steve.”

His eyes open like painted-shut windows. He’s cold, oh so cold. Was he ever this cold, even in the Arctic?

“Come on, buddy.” Arms pull him up. He’s stiff, like he hasn’t moved in a long time. When he’s able to focus, he sees Bucky in front of him, hair long, dressed all in black. Steve draws in a sharp breath and adrenaline knifes through him. When he tries to stand, he gets dizzy and falls back. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not him any more. We don’t have much time. Took me forever to find you.”

Bucky helps him out of the contraption, a body-size container that reminds Steve of the Vita-Ray machine. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Steve stretches his legs. “Where are we?” He can’t remember how he got here. There was something about a bar, Bucky in his old uniform. It’s all vague.

“I’ll fill you in later. Right now we gotta get someplace safe.”

Steve looks him up and down. Bucky’s loaded down with enough weaponry to stock an armory. “Don’t ‘spose you have a shield on you?” 

Bucky hands him a revolver. “This should do you.”

Steve hears shouting coming towards them. He and Bucky move toward the big metal doors. “I think I was supposed to rescue you, not the other way around.” 

Bucky shrugs. “You were late.” He motions Steve to the other side of the door. When the hostiles burst through, they’re ready. 

Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes, together again.


End file.
